Building foundation support and repair systems have been developed which comprise columns of generally cylindrical concrete pile sections which are placed under the edge of an existing foundation and driven into the ground below the foundation until the lowermost pile section encounters a load bearing strata or otherwise is driven to refusal. This process is carried out by excavation adjacent to the existing foundation, placement of a pile section under the foundation and, typically, placing a hydraulic ram mechanism between the foundation and the pile section for driving the pile section into the earth. Additional pile sections are added to the column until the column meets refusal.
Several problems are encountered with conventional foundation repair and support systems of the type described above. The cylindrical pile sections may encounter tree roots, stones or other obstructions as they are being driven downward into the earth and will tend to skew away from the vertical upon encountering such obstructions, resulting in an inferior and unsuitable support system. Improvements have been sought with regard to multi-section pile type foundation support systems wherein the cylindrical pile sections have a central bore extending longitudinally therethrough and a cable is extended through the bores of the pile sections in an effort to minimize the tendency for the pile sections to undergo lateral excursion during and after completion of the support system installation. Flexible cable supported columns of pile sections tend not to be as stable as desired.
Previous efforts have also been carried out to minimize the tendency for the pile sections to undergo lateral excursion during installation upon, for example, encountering one or more of the above-mentioned anomalies. However, such previous efforts have been deemed inadequate when attempting to install a substantially vertical, stable column of concrete pile sections for foundation support systems.
It is to overcome the deficiencies in prior art foundation support and repair systems that the present has been developed.